pakistan at 70 A MAN OF SURPRISES THE MISSION Celebrating Independence Day in Hyderabad MAGAZINE OF THE COLUMBAN MISSIONARIES

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1 MAGAZINE OF THE COLUMBAN MISSIONARIES THE MISSION From the gangs of LA to digital evangelisation pakistan at 70 Celebrating Independence Day in Hyderabad A MAN OF SURPRISES The life and death of Columban missionary Fr Tom Ellis

CONTENTS 04 Columban 100: Faces of the Columban Future: The Mission Columban co-worker Juan Carlos Garcia

06 Columban 100: Columban Historical Moments (1918-2018): A Man of Surprises Fr Cyril Lovett recalls the

08 Columban 100: Your Columban Story: Limerick's First Columban Martyr John M Leonard is a relative of Fr

10 Pakistan at 70: Welcoming their Hero, Jesus Sr Rebecca Conlon writes about the Christian community in

12 Message of Hope Ellen Teague reports on the address by Columban missionary Fr Peter Hughes to this year's

14 Border People Dream Too Fr Bobby Gilmore shares some recollections of his time as a chaplain to Irish

16 Hope for a Brighter Tomorrow A student at the Mandalay Higher Education Centre, which was founded by

2 CONTENTS 04 Columban 100: Faces of the Columban Future: The Mission Columban co-worker Juan Carlos Garcia has journeyed from the gangs of LA to digital evangelisation. 06 Columban 100: Columban Historical Moments ( ): A Man of Surprises Fr Cyril Lovett recalls the life and death of Columban missionary Fr Tom Ellis ( ) who went to China in Columban 100: Your Columban Story: Limerick's First Columban Martyr John M Leonard is a relative of Fr Timothy Leonard, the first martyr of the Society of St Columban. 10 Pakistan at 70: Welcoming their Hero, Jesus Sr Rebecca Conlon writes about the Christian community in Hyderabad's celebrations to mark Pakistan's Independence anniversary. 12 Message of Hope Ellen Teague reports on the address by Columban missionary Fr Peter Hughes to this year's NJPN conference on Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si'. 14 Border People Dream Too Fr Bobby Gilmore shares some recollections of his time as a chaplain to Irish emigrants in the UK and concludes that borders are "useless inventions". 16 Hope for a Brighter Tomorrow A student at the Mandalay Higher Education Centre, which was founded by Columban Fr Neil Magill, recalls his visit to the orphanages and IDP camps near Myitkyina. 18 A Taste of Britain Fr Bernie McDermott recalls how his supply of HP sauce helped him cope with the culinary challenges of missionary life. 19 Obituaries 20 Reflection 21 Stories from the Bible 22 Children's Section 23 Nature: The Holly Leaf Miner

EDITORIAL THE FAR EAST Published seven times yearly by the Missionary Society of St Columban (Maynooth Mission to China).

and material support for missionaries. Subscription 5 a year. Cheques/postal orders to be made payable to: "The Columban Fathers". Editor Sarah Mac Donald editorfareast@gmail.

reflections etc. www.columbans.co.uk www.columbansisters.org Follow us Twitter: @fareastmagazine Facebook: www.facebook.

Tel: (020) 8980 3017 Front Cover Flood survivors in a relief camp in Quetta, Pakistan. (Shutterstock) We have a family story that I just missed being born in church during Midnight Mass.

I can't claim to remember any of that but I do remember preaching at my first Midnight Mass a few days after I was ordained.

3 EDITORIAL THE FAR EAST Published seven times yearly by the Missionary Society of St Columban (Maynooth Mission to China). THE PURPOSE OF THE FAR EAST IS To promote an awareness of the missionary dimension of the Church among readers; report on the work of Columban priests, Sisters and lay missionaries; seek spiritual and material support for missionaries. Subscription 5 a year. Cheques/postal orders to be made payable to: "The Columban Fathers". Editor Sarah Mac Donald editorfareast@gmail.com Assistant Editor Sr Redempta Twomey Layout & Editorial Assistant Breda Rogers Manager Stephen Awre Original Design Gabriel Carbone Printers Southern Print, Dorset Columban Websites News, reports, reflections etc. Follow us Facebook: fareastmagazine Missionary Society of St Columban Widney Manor Road, Knowle, Solihull, West Midlands, B93 9AB. Tel: (01564) Columban Sisters 6/8 Ridgdale Street, Bow, London E3 2TW. Tel: (020) Front Cover Flood survivors in a relief camp in Quetta, Pakistan. (Shutterstock) We have a family story that I just missed being born in church during Midnight Mass. I'm told that my grandmother stopped my mother heading out on Christmas Eve and that I was born before Mass was over. A chance at a first grand entrance spoiled! I can't claim to remember any of that but I do remember preaching at my first Midnight Mass a few days after I was ordained. The truth is I've probably repeated some of that sermon every year since, both in English and Korean. The message of Christmas is deceptively simple but each year aspects of it seem to speak clearly to the events in our lives and in our world. As children we made the most of the fact that we too were due presents on Jesus' birthday. Only years later would we wonder at the sacrifices our parents had to make to provide for our dreams but baby Jesus' got the credit and was certainly established with celebrity status in our young minds. Gradually we discovered that the Christmas story was not only for children. Rural Korea at the end of the 1960s had few signs of Christmas so in the dark mountain village, the small church lights were a beacon to many. They were also a glimmer of resistance during the hard years of dictatorship and a statement that 'Hope is not a vain dream when it becomes flesh in people'. It was there that the political context of the lives of Mary and Joseph and the world into which Jesus was born found echoes in the lives of poor people in their struggle for life. That streak of resistance remains with us today as we view the plight of the refugees and the homeless in a world of plenty. We need to keep believing in the goodness that surrounds us. Christmas helps us see each other at our best, as caring and concerned people, parents and citizens. That, is the bit of my first Christmas sermon that we can repeat every year. We are not 'tabloid people' whose four-letter words are mostly rage, fury and hate. It is our compassion, our generosity and our humanity that is our gift to each other and to the world. The Christmas story is always a timely reminder that those who 'come from afar' are not coming as a threat to us but may, in fact, be bringing us gifts as the Wise Men did at Bethlehem. In a way, missionaries spend their lives trying to make Christmas real for people. They work out of the belief that our God is among us, beside us in our pain, giving us the hope that life is worth living. It is your support and encouragement that keeps them going and ensures that the hope that moves them stays alive. I'm just one of the many you have carried along over the years. In gratitude I pray that God will bless you and your family this Christmas and into the future. Christmas is the promise that hope is not a vain dream when it becomes flesh in people. Fr Noel Daly SSC - Gustavo Gutierrez Wishing all our subscribers, readers and supporters a very happy and peaceful Christmas and every blessing for 2018! FAR EAST - DECEMBER

myanmar 01 4Faces of the Columban Future THE mission Juan Carlos Garcia knows a lot about peripheries.

My parents worked day and night and I didn't see them much except at the weekend.

Juan Carlos had learned that the world was a threatening and dangerous place. "Growing up, I had a very difficult time seeing goodness in the world and I became an atheist.

"We lived in one of the worst parts of LA. One night, when I was about 12 years old, we heard a lot of screaming.

4 myanmar 01 4Faces of the Columban Future THE mission Juan Carlos Garcia knows a lot about peripheries. Born in April 1978 in the Mexican city of Guadalajara, his parents emigrated to the US a year later. "I was raised in East LA among the gangs, the violence and the poverty. My parents worked day and night and I didn't see them much except at the weekend." At the tender age of six, Juan Carlos lost his best friend to gangland violence as the little boy was killed as an act of intimidation towards his older brother. Juan Carlos had learned that the world was a threatening and dangerous place. "Growing up, I had a very difficult time seeing goodness in the world and I became an atheist. I didn't understand how there could be a God amid such violence and why he would allow any of that." One episode in particular sealed his decision to be an atheist. "We lived in one of the worst parts of LA. One night, when I was about 12 years old, we heard a lot of screaming. There was a young woman, probably in her teens, running around with her 4 FAR EAST - DECEMBER 2017 Juan Carlos Garcia is a young father of four who works as a web developer and social media expert for the Columbans in Omaha in the USA. His faith journey has brought him from the gangs of LA to digital evangelisation. clothes torn off. She was yelling, 'Let me in, let me in, they've kidnapped me and I've escaped, I need help please.' A black van came along and these guys got out of the van and dragged her by the hair and threw her into the van. Nobody did a thing. My grandmother was the only one. As the van was speeding off, she stood in the middle of the road but my dad pulled her away. I felt so useless, so hopeless these neighbours were all the churchgoers. Yet they turned a blind eye to me that was appalling." A studious child, he read a lot and while he didn't go down the gang route, most of his friends did. He graduated from High School in 1996 with honours and applied to six universities and got accepted for all. However, life was about to deal him a cruel blow. "My parents were losing their home at that time, so I decided not to go to university but to take a break for just one term, to work and sell my car and give the money to them so that they wouldn't lose their house. I didn't know that that would mean that I would lose

"That's when I started studying philosophy and theology. Art has always been my forte all types of art from music to theatre, drama, acting and painting.

He was also gleaning information online about faith, though his aim was to equip himself with arguments against faith. But God had plans for Juan Carlos Garcia.

I found faith through searching online for material on how to attack the Church which actually provided me with answers to many of the myths about the Church.

5 all my scholarships..." Unable to go to university thanks to his act of generosity to his parents, he got a job and went to community college, but could not figure out what he wanted to do with his life. "That's when I started studying philosophy and theology. Art has always been my forte all types of art from music to theatre, drama, acting and painting." The Church's role as patron and inspiration for the arts meant he had to read indirectly about faith to learn about art. He was also gleaning information online about faith, though his aim was to equip himself with arguments against faith. But God had plans for Juan Carlos Garcia. "I was converted through digital forums; no priest ever came and talked to me about God. I found faith through searching online for material on how to attack the Church which actually provided me with answers to many of the myths about the Church." At nineteen he had a major conversion in which he felt God provided him with some deep peace and explained that all the bad in the world was not because of evil people, but because good people do nothing about it. His conversion happened just as the Church began to implode over the clerical child sexual abuse scandals. He feared it would ruin his faith, but the depth of his conversion sustained him. "What happened in the Church was necessary for a new Advent in the Church. The Holy Spirit has cleaned the Church and it is up to us to continue to clean the Church. It is not perfect but neither am I. The Church is not a museum of saints it is a hospital of sinners." Thirty-nine-year-old Juan Carlos met his wife Maria twenty years ago when he began attending a youth music group. They now have four children, two boys and two girls, aged 13 down to two and a half. As the web developer for the Columban Missionaries' Hispanic service, he has been sharing his expertise across the Society to help push forward evangelisation through new media in all regions where the Columbans minister. He believes people in the Church need to grasp the potential of evangelising online. It is a calling as much for the laity as religious and priests. "By our baptism we have that calling to be a missionary." Of the cyber peripheries, he responds, "It is the Church's duty to be there. It is an integral part of mission work. We have to stop looking at new media as a tool; the digital world is more than a tool it is a mission in itself. The Columbans are in 16 countries, they must see the internet as the 17th country. We must enter these forums and be a light in the darkness." Juan Carlos strongly believes the Columban Centenary needs to be celebrated by everyone associated with the Society. "When I met the Columbans and saw everything they were doing, I thought to myself, if I had known about this when I was growing up I would not have been an atheist because I would have known that God is working all over the world." Though he understands that some Columbans don't want to be seen to boast about their work, that humility, he believes, can be misguided. "They need to understand that the world needs examples of visible missionary faith because the only things people see in the media are the bad things. They are leaving the Church in truckloads... we have to reel them back in and there is no better way than with the example of what the Columbans have done in the last 100 years. The centenary is a testimony that God exists." To make a comment on this article go to The Columbans are in 16 countries, they must see the internet as the 17th country. We must enter these forums and be a light in the darkness. 01. Juan Carlos Garcia and his son Angel with Columban missionary Fr Diego Cabrera SSC. 02. Juan Carlos performing with other musicians at the St John of God parish festival in Norwalk, California. 03. The Garcia family strolling the grounds of St Columban s in Omaha, Nebraska. 04. Juan Carlos and Dr Mario Sanchez in the Latina Studios in Omaha, Nebraska

Columban 100 CROSS AND DRAGON FACES OF THE COLUMBAN FUTURE. Celebrating Columban Mission MAGAZINE OF THE COLUMBAN MISSIONARIES

Columban 100 CROSS AND DRAGON FACES OF THE COLUMBAN FUTURE. Celebrating Columban Mission MAGAZINE OF THE COLUMBAN MISSIONARIES MAGAZINE OF THE COLUMBAN MISSIONARIES FACES OF THE COLUMBAN FUTURE Newly ordained Fr Rafael Ramirez on his missionary call Columban 100 Celebrating Columban Mission 1918-2018 CROSS AND DRAGON Recalling